Valve for steam-engines



(No Model.)

A. F. DEVEREUX. VALVE FOR STEAM ENGINES.

No. 460,200. PatentedSep't. 29, 1891.

FIG-l.

FIG.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR F. DEVEREUX, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

VALVE FOR STEAM-ENGIN ES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 460,200, dated September 29,1891. Application filed January 27, 1891. Serial No. 379,260. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be itknown that I, ARTHUR RDEVEREUX, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Valves for Steam- Engines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, reference being had to the annexed drawings, which form part of this specification.

My invention comprises a novel construction and arrangement of counterbalanced valves for locomotives and steam-engines generally, the details of said valves and their mode of operation being hereinafter more fully described.

In the annexed drawings, Figurel is a side elevation of the upper part of a steam-cylinder provided with my improved valve mechanism. Fig. 2 is avertical section of said cylinder. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section of the steam-chest, taken in the plane ofthe valvespindles. Fig. d is an enlarged end elevation, partly in section, of one of the inletvalvcs. Figs. 5 and ,6 are sections of two modifications of my invention.

A represents the upper part of a steam-cylinder; a, a portion of the piston of the same; and B is the steam-chest, having a pair of cylindrical casings or shells O 0, within which are fitted reciprocating rotary inlet'valves D E, that consist of hollow open-ended cylinders mounted, respectively, upon shafts or spindles D E and provided with ports (Z 6,

arranged to control the inlet-ports F F of the aforesaid steam cylinder A. These ports take the shape of longitudinal slots, as more clearly seen in Fig. 3, and are supplemented by other slots (1 e on the opposite sides of the valves. Furthermore, these slots cl 6 are practically of the same length and width as the ports d 6, thereby removing sufficient area from said valves to counterbalance them and enable them to be operated with the least exertion of power.

G G are passages in the bottom of the steam-chest to allow steam to enter from branch pipes g g and then flow into the openended inlet-valves, the branches g g being connected to a main pipe having a suitable throttle-valve or governor.

H H are exhaust-passages communicating with the inlet-ports F F, the inner ends of said passages being controlled by the exhaustvalve I. This valve consists of a hollow cylinder, closed at each end and mounted upon an axial shaft or spindle J, journaled within a special chamber K of the steam-chest, the valve being provided with a portt' on one side and a counterbalancing-slot t" on the opposite side. Chamber K has no communication Whatever with the steam-chest B, but has a passage k, leading to the escapepipe L. Spindle J of the exhaust-valve has a pendent lever M, whose free end is jointed to a rod 772, the latter being connected, either directly or indirectly, with the engine-eccentric, or with a link-motion, or with independent cut-off mechanism, so as to allow a greater or less throw of the various valves. Furthermore, said spindle has an upwardlyprojecting lever N,from which a pair of connecting-rods n n lead to levers O O of the spindles D E. From the above description it is apparent that the motion imparted by the eccentric-rod m to the lever M causes a simultaneous rocking of the three spindles D E J and a corresponding oscillation of the valves D E I within their respective casings and chambers. When these valves are in the position seen in Fig. 2, steam first enters through the branch pipe 9, ascends the passage G, fills the left end of chest B, and thus has free access to the open-ended casing O and to the hollow valve D, fitted therein. Steam enters freely at the ends of this valve, escapes through its ports at into the inlet-passage F of the cylinder, and drives the piston a in the direction of the arrow, the waste steam contained in said cylinder being now expelled through the channels F H, communicating ports 71 7c, and pipe L; but when the piston completes its stroke this position of the valve is exactly reversed, the Waste steam being then discharged through the other channels F H and ports'i 70. As steam is freely admitted to the slots d, e", and t", and as the areas of the latter are about equal to the areas of the ports (1, e, and i, it is evident that the valves are relieved from all back-pressure, and on this account theycan be operated without diminishing the power of the engine.

In the modification of my invention seen ICO in Fig. 5 the inlet-valve E is placed compara tively near the exhaust-valve I, and. the port 6 of the former communicates with a short channel fileading into the discharge-passage H but in another modification (represented in Fig. 6) theinlet-valve E is counterbalanced by a steam-cavity c in the casing O, which cavity is of the same length and Width as the valve-port e, andis supplied with steam by a passage 0', leading into the channel f.

I claim as my invention- In a steam-engine, the reciprocating rotary outlet-valve I, fitted Within a chamber K and provided with a counterbalancing-slot i and a diametrically-opposite port z', that alternately opens communication between the exhaust-passages H H and escape-port L, in combination with a pair of reciprocating rotary inlet-valves D E, fitted within the casings O O and provided, respectively, with counterbalancing-slots d e and diametrically-opposite ports 61 e, that control the inlet-passages FF, said valves D d d E e e I i i being operated by spindles D E J, having external actuating devices, substantially as herein described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

ARTHUR F. DEVEREUX Witnesses:

JAMES H. LAYMAN, SAMUEL M. QUINN. 

